Premier Li embarked on a very significant tour on the 18th of September. The tour comprises of visits to New York to attend the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly and pay official visits to Canada and Cuba upon the invitations from the respective countries.

The 71st session of the UN General Assembly will be an important one. Every session of the UN General Assembly is an historic moment, but among other things the 71st session will be the last one attended by US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as both are about to leave office. Thus, along with discussions of global matters, the assembled leaders will also bid farewell to two of the most famous and powerful leaders among them.

The UN General Assembly session is usually the biggest multilateral event of the calendar year, with most of the top world leaders in attendance. It makes it a perfect opportunity for leaders to meet each other on the side-lines to discuss matters and touch base on past, present and future agreements and understandings between countries. Being the Premier of the second largest economy in the world, Premier Li will most definitely have a very hectic few days in New York meeting his counterparts from other countries and streamlining and strengthening communications with them while attending various engagements at the UN headquarters. At the General Assembly session during the general debates, the premier will sketch out China's stance on global governance and international order in front of other global leaders and he will highlight measures for coping with global challenges.

Regarding the Premier's trip to New York, Vice Foreign Minister of China Li Baodong stated that "China hopes to take the premier's UN tour as an opportunity to strengthen communication with other sides and underline the basic norms of international relations. The international community should jointly establish a new international order with cooperation and reciprocity at its core."

After attending the 71st UN General Assembly meetings, the Premier will head to Canada on the invitation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This visit to Canada is the first one in 13 years by a Chinese Premier and is going to hold tremendous meaning, as this state visit is being reciprocated immediately after Mr. Trudeau's recent visit to China to attend the G20 summit. Trudeau's visit was a sparkling affair between the two countries as it resulted in the signing of agreements of cooperation in 17 different areas. With Premier Li's visit one can only expect greater things to come. Over all, relations with Canada are very healthy. Officially, diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1970 and they have been growing continuously every year. This enduring and comprehensive relationship between the People's Republic of China and Canada runs at many levels and covers various arenas, including trade, governance and values, health, education and culture. People to people exchanges are very high, with over 1.3 million Canadian residents being of Chinese origin, and with over 110,000 Chinese students at Canadian educational institutions in 2014. Chinese is Canada's third most spoken language after English and French. Pierre-Elliott Trudeau was elected prime minister of Canada in June of 1968, and one of his major foreign policy objectives was to establish diplomatic relations between Canada and the Peoples' Republic of China. Now his son Justin Trudeau is doing the same, carrying on in his father's footsteps and advancing relations with China, even as a feasibility study is being conducted regarding a free trade agreement between the two countries. China is Canada's second-largest single-country trading partner and two-way merchandise trade between the two countries reached nearly $85.8 billion in 2015, up 10.1 per cent from the figures of 2014. Trudeau said he is pleased to welcome Li and said, "Together, we will build on the progress made during my visit to China, deepening understanding between our two countries, and working on growing our economies and strengthening the middle class." Premier Li's trip to Canada is scheduled to conclude on the 24th of September.

After the trip to Canada, the Premier is scheduled to fly to Cuba. This will be an historic trip as Cuba was the first country in Latin America to recognize and form diplomatic ties with China and this will be the first visit by a Chinese premier since the two countries established diplomatic ties 56 years ago. Premier Li is going to visit Cuba upon the invitation of President Raul Castro and the two countries are set to sign cooperation documents in areas such as the economy, technology, new energy, industry and environmental protection. The important thing to note is that China is Cuba's second largest trading partner so far and there is tremendous room for growth in this aspect. Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca recently called Premier Li's upcoming visit a "very important visit and a great step in bilateral relations," adding that "Chinese investments in our nation are starting to blossom and we have a joint strategic vision for the future."

Shafei Moiz Hali has a master's degree from George Mason University, Virginia, USA in the field of International Commerce and Public Policy. Mr. Hali has been working as an Assistant Professor at the National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, Pakistan with the department of Government and Public Policy Since 2009. Currently he is pursuing his PhD from the College of Public Administration at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China.

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